Last weekend I went to visit my cousin Julie who lives on a farm near Schaffhausen, in northeastern Switerzland. It was a fun experience to be on a milking farm and see into this kind of life for 2 days. Since I have grown up on a farm myself, I know how much work it is getting up early everyday, feeding the animals and all the chores that go along with it. What I find hard though is having cows that you have to milk every day, twice a day...
On the farm Julie and her boyfriend Karl are renting they have 40 Holstein cows that give about 50 liters milk per day! Milking and feeding takes them about 2 hours each time... They get up at 6 am and start milking, then feed all the animals, clean up, etc. and do the same again at about 5 p.m. It was my first experience working with a milking machine, an incredible invention, and most important, a real time saver versus milking by hand.
I grew up milking our only cow by hand during my childhood in Canada. So to hook up a machine to the cow was a bit strange for me. Somehow you felt like you were forcing the milk out of her... The smell on a milk farm is also different than on a beef farm, stronger somehow.
What I enjoyed the most was being able to take care and feeding milk to the young calves. They were so excited and hungry when you came with the bucket. You had to really watch out and delicately take the bucket away when they were done. They also enjoyed just sucking on your fingers... On the farm they also have a few cats and a dog as well. When I am around animals like this I realize that I miss taking care of them... Guess it was a part of me back home.
